2021

Marlene couldn’t say that she was on board with Hobbes’ planned approach to the Eugenie White situation but she admitted that she and the rest of the group were at such a loss of ways to crack that mystery that she let him have it. They entered the Fountain Square neighborhood under the woos and aahs of all the unsavory people who roamed the streets at this advanced hour of the afternoon, early evening. She waved at them politely, answered a couple exclamations with a thumb up, while Hobbes darted towards the old building where Eugenie White lived without granting them a look.

“You’re going to buzz her?” she asked.

“Uugh, I guess” Hobbes was already exasperated, so it was good that he was not going on this mission solo. Marlene listened as the communication opened with the first floor above them. They could have easily leaped to the balcony and crashed her window, or just smashed the building door open unannounced, but they were trying something more discreet. She was pretty sure she heard Eugenie White choke on her breath when she heard who was at the door.

She was waiting for them at the entrance. Marlene had seen her social media pictures, the typical ones for a woman her age, group photos holding slices of pizza, posing next to a dog, showing a finger peace sign in front of a monument, holding someone else’s baby awkwardly. She had a very kind face and some soothing features, a rather disastrous sense of fashion and, when she opened her mouth to say hello, Marlene heard a deep and accented voice. At the bottom of her sweat pants, she was wearing some slippers with some Halloween pumpkin patterns on them.

Hobbes passed her without acknowledging her and paced efficiently directly into her flat, but it didn’t seem to trigger any reactions in Eugenie White. Instead, Marlene saw her eyes immediately fall on her and expand half their size, “Uber… woman, madame” Eugenie whispered stepped back, “please come in”.

Marlene nodded at her. Eugenie White was genuinely awestruck. Usually, she hurriedly put an end to such unbalanced face to faces with her customary warmth and humility, shook a couple of hands and rubbed a couple of shoulders, but now, she had to give space to Hobbes. She showed Eugenie the way into her own home with a quick lift of her chin, “Ms White, I suggest you do what the man says”

“Uberwoman” Eugenie White didn’t seem able to listen yet, still astonished, a vague smile curling up at the corners of her mouth.

They convened in the living room. It was a charming place, with the central space being the dining and living, two tall French door windows opening on the balcony, a lot of plants and a cat that was taking a nap on an armchair near one of the windows. “Eugenie White” Hobbes said, “sit down” Was this place where Barry had been kept a prisoner all those months?

“Pardon?”

“Is this your apartment?” he asked.

“Yes”

“Your cat?” he pointed at the animal rolled into a peaceful loaf.

“Yes it is, I’m sorry what—”

“Please, we are just establishing that we are at the right place and addressing the right person” Hobbes continued, camped on his legs like if he was ready to mount a horse. Uberwoman brushed the fireplace with her gloved finger, saw that it was quite clean.

“This your parents?” Hobbes straightened a finger at a picture frame on a drawer.

“My aunt and uncle”

“You don’t have parents?”

“Actually no, I don’t have parents, they died when I was a baby, in a car accident. My aunt and uncle raised me”

“You get along with your aunt and uncle?”

“What? Yes!” Eugenie said, her voice high pitched “of course, they’re great people!”

“Now sit down”

“In my own home? I mean don’t you want me to bring you a glass of water or some coff—”

“Be quiet and sit down, please”

People were always obeying Hobbes’ orders, it was a natural skill he possessed, and why he was the boss of the Team. A holy advantage that they all enjoyed before they had to resort to aggression to solve issues. Eugenie White unrolled the sleeves of the sweater she had rolled up, her hands still humid. She was probably doing the dishes, as a faint scent of lemon floated in the air from the kitchen, before they arrived. She hid her hands inside her sleeves, “hands where I can see them, Ms White” Hobbes said sharply.

“What?”

“You’re lucky we didn’t shoot you in the butt with some sleep medicine darts, Eugenie White, and didn’t take you to our station instead of just coming over”

“Excuse mee?” Eugenie was now horrified and she threw an alarmed look at Marlene. Marlene nodded. She was not used to acting like she was walking around with a broomstick up her own butt, but she was so avid for information about Barry’s fate that she went along.

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Hobbes got closer to the table and to Eugenie and placed his hands on his waist, “may I ask you, Eugenie White, to confirm the following information: you are 40 years old”

“39” Eugenie whispered.

“You are single, divorced, actually”

“Yes”

“You have been living here in this sh— place for about a decade”

“That’s right”

“You are a high school teacher”

“Yes”

“Now can you please tell my colleague and I how you managed to kidnap the Bolt?”

Eugenie’s mouth opened as wide as her eyes were already bulging. Some people were good actors, Marlene thought. “Wh—” Silence, she swallowed and squinted, “you mean Barry, the Bolt?”

“Barry the Bolt? Yes I mean Barry the Bolt”

“I don’t understand”

Hobbes pinched the bridge of his nose, “you’re going to have to understand faster, Eugenie White. We have identified that the Bolt spent seventeen months in this very apartment before he recently just… wasn’t anymore” he spread his arms in a motion of vanishing. “What did you do to him?”

“He left to find you”

“He left? You mean he escaped?”

Eugenie chuckled, this time, frowned, “I didn’t kidnap him. You, on the other hand, disappeared and—”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Disappeared. Marlene tilted her head, glanced at Hobbes. She was becoming very intrigued. At first sight, she couldn’t believe that this high school teacher with her tired hair and her Halloween slippers was a kidnapper, or any kind of criminal, but she had seen some shit, so she could grant to Hobbes that suspicion was key. However, she was providing some interesting answers so far.

“Yes, seventeen months ago, when Barry needed you, you disappeared!”

“We went on the moon mission, don’t you read the news?”

“It was not on the news” Marlene interjected politely, nodded encouragingly to Hobbes.

“Anyway we thought Barry was dead. We moved on. But then we are currently finding out he was held here”

“Held?” Eugenie stood up, brought to some real-looking frustration, but Hobbes gestured for her to remain seated.

“What is your response, then?”

Eugenie shook her head, “I don’t trust you. You are completely out of your mind”

Hobbes’ eyebrows touched his hairline, “you will respond, respectfully!”

“I don’t know you, or rather, I know you, I’ve heard of you, Mr Hobbes, and you sound absolutely unhinged, just like I imagined. Your own conduct is as fishy as the one you are accusing me of right now and I don’t owe you an explanation”

“Why not?” Marlene asked.

Eugenie turned to her, seemed to repress another one of her gasps, realizing Uberwoman was still sitting at her table. Her eyes softened, “madame” she spoke gently, “I’m trying to protect Barry, I don’t know what happened and why you guys left him behind, so I’m just being careful”

“But if your explanations could help Barry?”

“Of course, but—” Eugenie hesitated and pointed to Hobbes, “is he always like this?”

“Yes” Marlene sighed.

Hobbes shrugged, “you’re not making sense at all. Why kidnap Barry?”

“I didn’t kidnap Barry. He came here”

“Here?” Hobbes threw a hand designating the living room, “in this flat, he came on his own volition?”

Eugenie nodded but didn’t say a word. “Is your cat alright, Ms White?” Marlene asked, “he’s not reacting to our… presence”

“He’s deaf, Uberwoman” Eugenie looked back at her with adoring eyes.

Marlene allowed herself a small smile, as she loved elderly pets a lot, “cute” she commented.

“Marlene” Hobbes scolded her. “Eugenie White, I would like to comprehend how Barry, the Bolt, a superhero from our Team of vigilantes extraordinaire watching over this shitty town, happened to show up at your apartment”

Eugenie took a deep breath and looked like she was debating inside her head, then she looked down at her slippers, “he needed to hide, here. And he couldn’t find you, we looked everywhere for you, for months!”

“We?”

“Barry and I” Eugenie said with defiance.

“Barry lived here for seventeen months?”

“That’s what I just said”

“How many bedrooms does your apartment have?”

“One bedroom but—”

“Then where did Barry, the Bolt, sleep during all those months?” Hobbes barked the question. Marlene found it bizarre. She could easily tell that the big sofa behind them was a convertible, and that Eugenie’s flat could comfortably accommodate at least two people independently but Hobbes, as a born billionaire, probably wasn’t very aware of such things.

“On the couch there. It turns into a pretty large bed once you open it”

“Ah okay” Hobbes scratched his head and Marlene hid a small chuckle behind her hand. “You seem to have an answer for everything” he reproached to her.

“Because that’s what happened”

“Barry needed help from what?” Marlene asked. As she was seeing it, it was possible that they had been wrong in their interpretation of the data about Barry’s recent whereabouts, but she was still confused. Why here specifically? Why had Barry ended up here asking help to this unknown woman?

“From the mraimoumsomething, I think”

Hobbes jumped on his feet then leaned forward and brought his face, menacingly, to brush against Eugenie’s. She recoiled but attempted to not show any fear, “you’re working for the mrai moumous?” Marlene eyed her, her forced backbone. She seemed used to confrontations and holding her ground, for some reason.

“I… don’t even know what the mraim— those things are!” Eugenie raised her hands in the air helplessly, “some robots from another planet, if I understand correctly, the ones that flew in their big-ass flying saucer into our sky recentl—”

“You are the new mrai moumous leader?” Hobbes spat at her.

“Hobbes” Marlene called him out, “give her some space, please” Her eyes were trying to tell him, I don’t think that this girl is the new boss of the mrai moumous, but he didn’t intercept the message.

“So if I search this place, I will not find a Bernie device, will I?”

“A Bernie device?” Eugenie’s mouth formed the words as if they were a slice of the pie that’s still a bit too hot from the oven.

“She obviously has no idea what a Bernie is, Hobbes”

“Marlene, you told me to lead, I’m leading!”

“Alright, alright” She was more and more bothered by the thought that they were having a conversation in two separate languages. One person was asking, ‘what time is it?’ and the other replied, ‘no’. She rolled her eyes and smiled warmly at Eugenie this time, spin her index finger to communicate to her that patience was currently required. Eugenie’s face beamed with love.

“I have nothing to do with your robots and your device”

“They are not my robots and my device”

“Did you see any mrai moumous here, Ms White? On the boulevard?”

“No, not here, Uberwoman” Eugenie replied.

“So why did Barry come here?”

“Because he trusted me”

“You??” It was Hobbes’ turn to recoil from the surprise.

“Yes me!” Eugenie insisted. “Obviously I am more trust-worthy than you are! I didn’t just disappear when Barry needed help the most!”

“Hey” Marlene decided to bypass Hobbes, as they were wasting precious time now, arguing like toddlers, “I’m sorry Hobbes, you know that I am on your side, my friend, but we are getting” she switched gear and smiled brightly at Eugenie, “positively nowhere at the moment”